


Moth to the Flame

by hexterah



Category: BioShock, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: New Jedi Order Era - All Media Types
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-05-17 19:11:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5882269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hexterah/pseuds/hexterah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A BioShock/Star Wars: EU Crossover: The story of how the Soloman children try to scrape by in Rapture.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was in a major Star Wars: EU place and a major BioShock place in my life (haha when am i not) and this came from me fiddling with the character's names first. AND IT ALL SPIRALED DOWNHILL FROM THERE. I never finished this story - but I'll be putting all the chapters I have up here. I was maybe a third of the way through writing it but I had a solid outline so I'm probably going to finally finish it up. Hopefully! :D
> 
> Started: 02/03/2010

The fruit juice was stale.

Jase wasn't sure how fruit juice could really be _stale_ , but it left a flavor in his mouth that made him want to retch every time his tastebuds got a touch of it. Tossing the container to the side, he listened to it land on the dock with a hollow plop before he went back to digging in his lunch bag. He had forgotten what he packed for himself that morning -- besides stale fruit juice, of course -- but a little searching in his brown paper bag brought out a mushy apple and a cheese and onion sandwich.

Wow, cheese and onions. He was really living it up now.

Taking an angry and very large bite of the sandwich, he reminded himself to tell Jane _again_ that it was her turn to go to the Farmer's Market and pick up the groceries that week. He had done it himself last week and Andy had done it the week before.

Not that Jane ever listened to him. Or listened to Andy. Or anyone for that matter.

Jase's mother was a politician and his father had grown up as a smuggler. When he was little, Jase wanted to follow in his mother's footsteps -- but he found, especially in Rapture, that his father's were so much easier to fall into. His siblings were in Rapture too -- the three of them had been living together since they arrived. Their parents had high hopes for them by sending them down to live under the sea. They were _special_. They excelled at their schoolwork and studies at very young ages and Andrew Ryan, the founder and mind behind Rapture, had called for future scholars and businessmen and scientists and artists. Their parents thought it would be better in Rapture for them than it would be on the surface. They thought their children would have more of a chance at a better life.

Except now Jase was working at Happy Noodle, delivering food every day. His twin sister, Jane, was dancing at Eve's Garden, usually for a persistent gaggle of boys and Andy was gutting fish down at Fontaine Fisheries every morning and afternoon. Besides delivering food, Jase was one of the few people in Rapture helping Frank Fontaine smuggle items from the surface into the city -- little to his siblings knowledge. Things Andrew Ryan didn't want in his utopia -- bibles and crosses were a big import. Jase really wasn't a religious man at all, but he liked the money.

He recalled the first few months the Soloman children had lived in Rapture. He and his sister were only nine and their little brother a mere seven. They had started school, making friends and absorbing every piece of knowledge they could get their hands and eyes on. They had lived at the school with some of the other children who had been sent to Rapture and their lives seemed like they were going great. The school had a series of accidents after that, once plasmids were introduced to the city -- students fighting, instructors quitting. They had been training and planning and living like they were supposed to; they were supposed to grow up and become part of the people who spearheaded the city's growth and well-being.

They were going to be part of Rapture's elite.

And now here they were, ten years later, one barely making a living on two jobs, another getting objectified just about every night and the last arriving home after work every day reeking of fish innards.

The worst part was that they couldn't leave. Once they were in Rapture, they were in Rapture for good. And their parents knew this when sending them. That was the fact that always managed to slap Jase square in the jaw when he thought of it. Did their parents have that much faith in them when they sent them down here? Did they really trust in the city so much to take care of their three children? Did they _even care_?

"Jase!"

Twisting his head while still gnawing on a mouthful of bread, cheese and onions, Jase spotted a black-haired man trotting down the docks towards him. His mess of ebony hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail and his eyes were wide and alert.

"Hey Zeke." He turned back to his sandwich and took another bite, letting his eyes drift back to his friend once he sat down on the docks in front of him. He had met Ezekiel in school when they had arrived in Rapture. Much like the Soloman kids, he was forced out of his home and studies once the learning establishment failed. But unlike the Soloman's, he had taken to the streets of Rapture instead of trying to settle down somewhere. He slept in vents, got food whatever way he could manage day by day and picked up a quick buck here or there whenever he could find the offers for work.

"How's things?"

"How do they look?" Jase dropped his sandwich on the brown paper bag and batted it off of his lap, stretching out and planting his hands behind him.

"Same as always." A few beats passed. "Guess who I saw at the Kashmir Restaurant the other night?" He said suddenly and cocked a slender eyebrow as he reached over and took the apple from where Jase had discarded it behind him.

"What were _you_ doing at the Kashmir Restaurant?"

"I was sneaking into the kitchens and stealing food. What else?" Ezekiel scoffed and took an enthusiastic bite from the fruit.

Jase scowled. "How about you get a job?"

"How 'bout _you_ shut up?" He responded, flecks of apple flying from his lips.

Jase absently listened to Zeke munch on the old apple as his eyes scanned the glass above them, his gaze drifting through the water and across the wavering line of the city through the sea. Rapture was definitely a technological marvel, no doubt about that. But at the same time it was basically an underwater hell for people in his situation.

"Anyways," Ezekiel started, tossing the core over Jase's reclining form and into the water under the docks beyond. "Guess who I saw at Kashmir the other night?"

Delivering a lazy shrug, Jase rolled his head and let his eyes move from the sea above to Zeke, whose posture very much mirrored his own at that point.

"Miss Tanith Kendall Cherish Dooley."

The full name rolled off of Zeke's tongue and hit Jase's ears like a melody. That was it. That was Jase's one bright spot in the dank world of Rapture.

_Tanith._

He had met her when the Soloman children had arrived in the underwater utopia. Along with Zeke, she had gone to school with them, but because of her parents and their status in Rapture, she was more than well off when their academia went under. Her parents were politicians, her mother more than her father. And they were usually found in meetings with Andrew Ryan concerning policies and events around Rapture. They were a couple of his top advisors -- and Andrew Ryan had _many_ advisors.

"Oh yeah?" Jase tried to sounded mildly disconnected and disinterested, but he knew the way his muscles tensed when Zeke mentioned her name probably didn't go unnoticed by the other, who had always been a wildly observant companion.

"Yeah, she was with some stuffy knob who was probably just trying to bag her, you know?"

Jase stayed silent.

"I watched 'em for a few minutes while snacking on some of the stuff I swiped. He was pretty offensive looking. Combed-over red hair, beady little eyes. He was like a big buffoon and he talked with his mouth full. She really didn't look amused."

That caused the slightest upturn of Jase's lips.

He finally looked over to Zeke and gulped before asking a simple question. "How's her arm?"

"Healed over. Still gone. She hasn't had surgery." Shifting, he leaned towards Jase and lowered his voice, reaching out and patting his friend on the shoulder. "Jase, it's been five years."

"I know."

In between the plasmid introduction at school and their last days there, an accident had occurred. Jase remembered it like it was yesterday. He and Tanith had been two of the closest students in the school and they were often teased for their relationship and how much time they spent with each other in class and out. He sat behind her in lectures and spent many of those long days staring at the back of her head or leaning up to tell her horrible jokes or passing notes back and forth with her. Sometimes he found himself fingering the copper curls that she pushed behind her shoulders as they brushed his desk, lightly pulling at them and causing her to reach back and smack his knee.

One day, the two of them and a group of their friends were fiddling with some of the plasmids the school had. They had correctly injected the EVE, like they were taught to, and then after that they were ready to use the mind-controlled substances -- or so they thought. It was exciting, it was dangerous and when that day ended they all realized how stupid they had been to even bother playing with them in the first place. Jane and Zeke were marveling at the fact that they could shoot fire from their fingertips. Two of their other friends, Raymond and Louie, had been goofing around with bolts of electricity between their fingertips and he and Tanith had been experimenting with the Telekenisis plasmid. Luckily, Andy had been in his room sick that day. Lord knows what would've happened to him if he had been out there messing with the plasmids like they had.

They had been juggling items back and forth in an arc between their outstretched hands. He would toss something to her without even touching it and she would stop it before it got near her and send it back to him, the item coasting through the air like it weighed nothing. They had been getting increasingly more risky with what they were shifting between them, each one picking up something heavier or more awkward and showing off how well they could handle it with their plasmid and a simple swipe of the wrist.

He had flicked a finger in her direction, casually coasting a tall file cabinet across the room to her and Jase had watched her toss him a lazy grin and lift her left arm to stop it, like she had stopped everything else. It stopped, but not completely. And Jase remembered the way her face had changed, from a calm and collected expression of pride to a faltering and frantic sense of dread. Something happened and she couldn't keep the item above her any more. He remembered watching Tanith try to bolt out from under it, but it fell too fast. Jase recalled the way she collapsed on the ground beside it -- her left arm was pinned under it. He ran to her and fell to his knees beside her, yelling for one of the others to call for help. Tanith made no noise, she just bit her lip and pressed her eyes shut while Jane had gone to call the medics. Jase had remembered the exact moment Tanith had went unconscious. The way the muscles in her neck relaxed and her eyes had rolled back into her head. He could still see the beads of his sweat that had rolled from his chin and landed on her jaw line and he could see the thick pool of red spreading from under the file cabinet on the other side of her.

It seemed like such a stupid thing. A file cabinet! Of all things, a damn file cabinet. But that was it. The bones in her arm were shattered beyond repair and the pressure the weight of it had caused in her veins and muscles had been a major enough reason, along with the loss of bones, to amputate her arm.

He had visited her every day at the Medical Pavilion while she healed and they talked for hours on end, sometimes even through the night. About what they wanted with their lives, why they were in Rapture, the accident -- he told her more jokes, she told him she didn't blame him for what happened. She always said if she had bothered to use enough EVE to power her own plasmids then she would've been able to block the shot with no problem.

Once the students scattered after the school was abandoned, he hadn't talked to her much. Their last day together, she had told him to stay in touch and she had planted an innocent kiss at the corner of his lips. Then she was gone. She had been back in the wealthy part of Rapture with her parents. He had seen her here and there around the city, but it was no more than a few seconds of eye contact or an awkward glance. They hadn't talked in five years. They had been best friends and they hadn't talked in _five years_.

Jase figured she had most likely moved on to the rich boys up in Olympus Heights and had forgotten about him. And he was sure they fawned all over her when she stepped out to the Kashmir Restaurant or to Fort Frolic, tongues hanging out of their heads, tails wagging -- they followed her all around, he bet. Jase figured she probably had a good twenty suitors now. More than half were most likely disgusted by her left arm, which he just learned from Zeke was still only a stump, but he was damn sure they weren't disgusted by her _money_.

A scowl marred his features.

"What is it?" Zeke asked.

Glancing back to his friend, Jase tried to force a smile. "Nothing. I was just thinking about Tanith."

"I'll bet. I still can't believe she hasn't had the surgery."

"Of course you can believe it," Jase responded as he pulled his feet under him and sat facing Zeke. "She blamed the accident on herself for not injecting enough EVE. She blames the accident on herself and not bothering with the surgery to fix it is her way of coping with it."

"You mean punishing herself for it."

Jase sighed. "If you want to look at it that way..."

They sat in silence for a few moments until Zeke broke it, his eyes narrowed and his voice lowered to a whisper.

"You still have feelings for her, don't you?"

Jase pulled a stray thread from the cuff of his sleeve and balled it up between his pointer finger and thumb, tossing it across the dock. He didn't answer Ezekiel's question.

"That's what I thought."

Zeke had noticed that the subject seemed to be grating on his friend's nerves -- or maybe it was certain aspects of the subject -- so he quickly changed it at that point, not wanting to upset Jase more than the man already seemed.

"How're Andy and Jane?"

"They're okay." His eyes widened for a moment before he shot to his feet. "Speaking of them, I need to go get Andy. He should be off work by now."

Zeke stood, picking up Jase's trash as he did. He balled up the paper bag and handed it to him. "Isn't Andy old enough to walk himself home?"

"Yeah, but we always walk home together. It's been like that for years."

With a nod and a pat to his friend's shoulder, Zeke nodded. "I get it. He's lucky to have a brother like you."

Jase didn't have to force a smile at that point, because Zeke's words caused one to come naturally. "Thanks." He gave Ezekiel a clap on the back and then turned, tossing the paper bag into a trash can along the dock. "I'll see you later."

He heard Zeke call out a goodbye as he meandered along the docks of Neptune's Bounty towards Fontaine Fisheries.

Andy was waiting for him by the entrance when he got there, his glasses on top of his head and his left hand patiently picking at a scab on the back of his right hand where he had accidentally cut himself a few days earlier with one of the gutting knives.

"Stop picking at it," Jase grabbed his little brother's hand and pulled it, yanking him away from the wooden column he had been resting against. He dropped Andy's hand and shifted his arm around his shoulder instead, absently feeling his brother's fingers clasp around the strap of his messenger bag. The kid reeked of raw seafood, but Jase had grown used to it, and Andy had grown used to the looks he got while walking home with his brother -- the stench of fish following them all the way back to their apartment.

"I can't help it. I have to look at it all day while I work and it's like it just wants me to pick at it, y'know?"

"It'll just get worse if you do that."

With a loud sigh, Andy quickened his pace to keep up with his brother, worried that if he didn't stay in step with him, Jase would lose him in the crowd up by the bathyspheres. Reaching the end of Neptune's Bounty, Jase took his arm from his brother's shoulders and told him to stay close as they began dodging people and sidestepping crowds of citizens on their way home from work as well. Andy was behind Jase, both hands now tightened around the strap of his older brother's bag.

Once they had taken the bathysphere to Apollo Square, the crowds had thinned a little and and it was easier for the Solomans to walk beside each other. 

Jase had his eyes locked on their path ahead of them, blinking at the sight of the dimly lit sign for the Artemis Suites. Their apartments. Every day he worried that they wouldn't be able to scrape enough together for rent that month and would end up somewhere like Fontaine's Home for the Poor. It was bad enough that their apartment barely had any furniture in it and the shower only worked three-quarters of the time it should've -- and when it did it only spit out cool to cold water. They didn't have enough to pay to get it fixed. 

At least the apartment had a nice view.

"Can we go see sis?"

Ripping his eyes from the sign, he turned his head to the right and looked to his little brother. "She's already left for work."

"I know, can we go see her at work tonight?" Andy's eyes lit up. Andy always worked days at the fisheries and Jane always worked nights at Eve's Garden -- Jase never knew if he was working nights or days until he woke up in the morning and called in to find out. For the three of them to get together -- no matter where it happened to be -- it was always something to look forward to. It was something cozy, something that reminded them that they were a family and things could _always be worse_.

"We should probably get cleaned up first." Jase scrunched his face up. "I don't think you're going to impress any ladies at the Garden smelling like _that_."

His brother laughed. It was his chirping chuckle that always made Jase grin when he heard it.

Once they entered the apartment, Jase motioned to the bathroom at the end of the apartment. "I'm gonna take a quick nap. You go ahead and take a shower first and then wake me up when you're done."

"'Kay." Andy shifted to the living area in the middle of their apartment and set his bag down on the lumpy couch he slept on in front of the old snowy television every night. It was the most comfortable piece of furniture to the Soloman's name and Jane and Jase had gladly let their little brother use it for a bed.

Jase watched him for a few moments, grabbing a glass from the counter and filling it up with tap water. He took a swig as Andy found clean clothes in the basket he stashed his garments in beside the tv and then threw his little brother a lopsided grin as he vanished into the bathroom at the end of the hall. Once he finished the water, Jase set the glass beside the sink and sighed quietly, eyeing the living room -- Andy's makeshift bedroom -- before he entered the hall towards the bathroom and veered off into the first room on the left, dropping his bag on the floor. His own bedroom.

There was no door on his room, but Jane had built him a small contraption over his door frame that held a thick and ratty floor-to-ceiling curtain. It was a calming, dark pink piece of fabric and Jane had asked her boss for it from work -- it was off of one of the dressing rooms at Eve's Garden. Jase remembered Jane telling him that she just whined to her boss about how they were ugly curtains and the dressing rooms deserved better. New curtains were installed on the dressing rooms the next week. He pulled the curtain shut a little ways and heard the shower switch on in the bathroom down the hall past Jane's room. Even though the water wasn't anywhere near a comfortable temperature, Jase knew Andy always took long showers. It took a while to get the scent of his job off of him.

Stretching, Jase looked out to the city through his favorite part of his room. His window. It was a fairly large window for an apartment their size, but he didn't complain. He would often sit on his cot with his elbows on the sill and stare out it, watching schools of fish swim by or occasionally, if he got lucky, a whale or an octopus drifting overhead. Besides the window, the cot and the curtain, he had an old desk which he piled his clothes on. And a photograph stuck to the wall above it all. It was of Jane, Andy, Louie and Zeke in the foreground, at school when they were all younger, making silly faces and acting their ages -- but to the right of that little group was Jase himself, talking to a smiling girl with a head of copper hair. That was the part of this picture his eyes were always drawn to. They were fairly blurry there in the background of the shot, but it was all he had concerning Tanith. And it was better than nothing. Zeke's comments earlier had made him even bother to look at that picture on the wall again -- before it had just sort of blended in with the rest of his _nothing_ that made up his bedroom.

Stripping his shirt and his pants off, both of which smelled like a sick mix of overcooked noodles and raw fish, Jase gently set himself down on the tall cot that passed as his bed. His skin instantly erupted in goosebumps against the cool air and he clenched his jaw against the threat of his teeth chattering. The shorts he was wearing stank of the food too, most likely, but he wasn't going to dirty another pair for a simple nap. Especially when he was going to take a shower afterwards. He turned his head to look out the window briefly before collapsing onto his back and curling up under the covers. Thoughts of work were going through his head, thoughts of visiting his sister, thoughts of grocery shopping and how to get the next shipment of contraband into Rapture and how to make sure --

He shut his eyes against it all, letting his mind drift back to earlier that day. Back to his conversation with Zeke.

He let his mind work its way back to Tanith.

And not just to her in general. He threw all of his other thoughts out and focused on specifics. Her cool, gray eyes, the way her hair felt between his fingertips, the taste his tongue had picked up when she kissed him on the corner of his mouth that day so long ago. He imagined what it would be like to pull her close to him and drag his lips up her neck, reveling, all the while, in the feel of her bare skin under his hands --

Jase's face flushed slightly and he let his eyes open. They drifted to the picture on the wall to his left again. He felt how warm his skin had become and felt slightly embarrassed at the turn his thoughts had taken -- not to mention that the picture of his siblings and friends seemed to stare at him. Shuffling onto his right side, facing the blank wall that the cot was pushed against, Jase shut his eyes once more, the brief memory of Tanith kissing the corner of his lips flashing through his mind again.

He was asleep within moments.


	2. Chapter 2

The dark blonde hair of his little brother could be seen bounding ahead, towards the neon pink lights of Eve's Garden. Fort Frolic, the part of the city where Eve's Garden flourished, was always busy this time of night -- _always_ \-- and Jase almost lost his brother in the crowd. Passing Robertson's Tobaccoria on the left, Jase rushed ahead to the entrance and found Andy, cleaning his glasses.

"You're slow," Andy offered, jokingly.

"You just don't take the time to enjoy things," Jase responded with a lopsided grin, grabbing the collar of his brother's shirt and pushing him into the club in front of him.

Once they passed through the entrance, the sweet smell of pipe smoke and the sour scent of alcohol and sweat hit Jase. Faint music drifted into his ears over the din of the people around him and he found himself narrowing his eyes against the hazy atmosphere to search out his sister.

"I'm gonna go look for Jane," Andy leaned over and stated in his ear.

"Don't leave the Garden," Jase commanded in return.

With a nod and a sloppy salute, Andy scampered off, dodging groups of people and the girls serving drinks and soon he was out of Jase's sight. Once he lost his brother in the mess of people milling around, Jase turned his head to give a long visual scan of the establishment. He got halfway before a waitress ran her hand across his back as she passed.

"Hey, Jase."

Some of the girls working there had recognized him or had been introduced to him by his sister and he was always mildly surprised when he went into the club and they all reacted to him like he was some sort of movie star.

"Hi there, Soloman."

He felt another hand on his shoulder, and turning his head he saw one of the other girls pass, her eyes still locked on him as she walked in the opposite direction. Jase always tried to smile at any greeting he got from the girls but the smile always felt awkward, like he wasn't sure how to handle this attention. Shifting uncomfortably, Jase continued to scan the Gardens.

When his gaze hit the front of the club, he saw Jane Soloman.

She was finishing up a song on stage, waving to guys in the audience and wrapping a marabou boa around her neck. It was purple, just like most of the outfits she wore at work. She spotted Jase in the crowd and waved enthusiastically to him, which he returned and then looked away from the stage. He never really liked attention and Jane motioning to him so excitedly got him a lot of angry glares from the men around him -- most of whom were probably too drunk to realize that he looked like a male version of the girl they were just watching on stage and the two were most definitely related to each other.

Jase wandered over to the end of the bar, resting his left elbow on the surface and relaxing momentarily while he waited for his twin sister to emerge from backstage. It only took a minute or two before she rushed out and threw herself at him, wrapping him up in a hug. He could feel the feathers from her boa tickling his neck and when she pulled back, he made it a point to look into her eyes. They were identical to his, brandy-brown and wide -- of course, hers were ringed with makeup at the moment, but they held that same curious spark that his did.

"You look good," he murmured, giving her a quick once-over.

"Oh come on," Jane said, grabbing her brother's broad shoulder for support as she reached down to fix a strap on her shoe. "It's only been three days since we've last seen each other, well, since you last had to work the same time I did."

"It seems like a lot longer than that." His left elbow was still sitting on the surface of the bar in a lazy fashion and he watched her hand slide down his shoulder and off of his arm, to rest beside his elbow on the bar top. His eyes went back to hers and grew wide. "Which reminds me! Food. We need groceries and it's --"

"I know! I know. It's my turn." With her free hand she smacked his other shoulder. "I'll get them tomorrow morning."

Turning slightly, Jase rested his back against the edge of the bar and moved his other arm out so both elbows were perched behind him on the cool wooden surface. "Have you seen Andy?"

"No," Jane said softly.

"He said he was gonna look for you, but that was when you were on stage."

With a short laugh, his sister turned to face the same way he was, out towards the open area of the club, and leaned her back against the bar in front of his left arm.

"What's so funny?" Jase shot her a glare.

Jane shook her head and continued to stare absently out to the crowd, her gloved fingers toying with the bottom hem of her corset. Jase shifted his left hand up and pinched a patch of bare skin on her back that was peeking out from the garment, feathers from her boa tickling his skin again. He watched her flinch slightly and then he asked his question again.

" _What_?"

"He's probably with that blonde bartender he has a crush on."

Jase's eyebrows raised slightly. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, she's too young for the stage."

"But she can serve alcohol?"

Jane shrugged. "When in Rapture..."

"What's her name?"

"Victoria. We all call her Torry. She's a sweet girl."

Jase was about to ask more about this "Torry", until Jane elbowed him in the side gently. "Don't look to your right."

Instantly turning his head to the right, Jane elbowed him in the side again. "I said _don't look_!"

He twisted his neck back to face forward, shifting his eyes down to her. "Why?"

"Kip Durant is over there."

Jane had told him numerous times about Kip Durant. He was a slightly older man and surprisingly he was quite the gentleman -- but only when he wasn't drinking. And he was usually drinking. Jase stole a quick glance to his right, where the man was nursing a tall glass of beer and shooting jade daggers directly at him.

"Why is he looking at me like that?"

"Because you're touching me." Jane wiggled her shoulders around, indicating where Jase's arm rested on the bar against her back.

"I'm your brother."

"Kip doesn't care. You have male parts. You're near me. That threatens him."

"Again, I'm _your brother_. Your _twin brother_."

"He's so drunk right now he probably doesn't even remember that."

"Even though we look exactly alike?"

Jane nodded quickly as she peered to him from Jase's left side. "Here, watch this." 

Jase was going to turn his head to look at her, but before he could he felt her tugging on his arm and pulling him closer to her, where she wrapped her right arm around his shoulders and pressed herself against his left side. Feeling his own twin sister's warm body up against his so suddenly and without warning made him feel highly uncomfortable, especially once she cupped a hand against the side of his face and began to whisper in his ear. All of the awkwardness he felt left him though, when she began speaking.

"Really sorry, man. But Kip Durant getting astoundingly pissed off while drunk is one of the few damn things I have for amusement here in this hole so you'll just have to play along."

A genuine laugh erupted from his mouth after she pulled away from him -- for a couple reasons. One was how often his sister seemed to curse. Ladies in Rapture were assumed and expected to be so high class and proper and Jase loved that his sister didn't bother with those standards. He also adored the fact that she got amusement out of something so simple and _silly_. It reminded him of their pranks they used to pull in school. He loved her for being _herself_ which many of the people in Rapture didn't bother with anymore.

Neither of them were looking directly at Kip after she shifted away from Jase, but they both heard -- over the loud sounds of the crowd and the music floating around -- a chair being pushed away from a table and slamming into the wall. Both the Solomans flinched at the sound and tensed up momentarily, but still, neither of them bothered to look in Kip's direction.

One of the few male bartenders saw Kip bolt out of seat and roll his sleeves up -- and that bartender quickly put a stop to whatever Durant was thinking. "Sit down, Durant! Or I'm cutting you off!"

Jane let a few beats pass before she turned and leaned behind her twin brother, hissing at the bartender. "Thanks, Matthew!" She waved.

"Anytime, Jay."

She smiled and shrugged to Jase, who just grinned back, shaking his head and turning his gaze towards the stage. Jasmine Jolene was up there now, much to the delight of the men in the Garden. Everyone knew she was Andrew Ryan's favorite girl there, but Jase often wondered if she was more than that and reminded himself to ask Frank Fontaine about it, in case he knew something, or could use the information to his advantage. Jane often told him things -- mostly gossip -- about what was going on with the girl's in the club and Jase figured the trash talk might come in handy one day.

"I saw Ezekiel today," he murmured, tilting his head slightly and absently in his sister's direction, his eyes still locked on Jasmine.

"Really?" She followed his gaze to Jasmine dancing on stage. "How is he?"

"Same as usual. He asked about you."

"Zeke asked about me?" Jane chuckled, leaning her elbow up against the bar beside her twin brother. "That's funny. He was here last night."

Jase's brow furrowed as he finally moved his eyes away from Jolene, peering to Jane quizzically. "He didn't mention that."

"Tipped me five dollars, that one."

"He had _five dollars_..." Jase paused. "And he spent it tipping _you_?"

"What can I say?" Jane flipped her dark brown hair behind her shoulder and shrugged playfully. She then grew serious and leaned closer to her brother, lowering her voice but still managing to speak over the murmur of the music and the crowd. "Seriously though, I was surprised too. You think he would use it to buy, I don't know, _food_ or something."

"Oh no." Jase turned to looks her in the eyes. "No, no. When I talked to him today he mentioned swiping food from the kitchens at Kashmir."

Her laugh lit her face up, Jase smiling at her sudden delight. "That bastard!" She managed, between giggles. "Stealing food from the rich."

"Don't tell me you can't believe it. Because I know you can."

"You know, I'm not surprised."

They shared a chuckle before a voice raised over the music near them.

"Jane!"

Jane turned to look behind her to see Andy standing there with a big grin on his face. 

"Hey kid!"

He was only two years younger than them, and even though that made him seventeen, he was still their little brother and they didn't hesitate to treat him exactly like that. He never minded. Andy liked the attention. It made up for the attention he never got from their parents.

Passing a couple bar stools and reaching his big sister, Andy wrapped her in a hug and then pulled back, sneezing at the marabou from her boa.

The twins chuckled and watched as Andy pulled off his glasses and began cleaning them again. Jane grabbed them from him and used the material from a scarf around her wrist to polish the lenses, knowing that it was much softer than the rag Andy had always used. "And how've you been, dear?"

"Okay," Andy responded as he rolled from his heels to the balls of his feet and back, watching her clean his glasses.

"There." She gently pushed them back onto his face and waited until he opened his eyes before asking her next question. "And how's Torry?"

He couldn't hide the flush of his cheeks and his gaze quickly went from Jane to Jase to the left, to the stage -- anywhere was better than those two and their questioning eyes right now. And of course, Jasmine Jolene was pretty seductive and provocative when she danced, always threatening to spill out of her corset or something -- this made his cheeks grow an even deeper red and he gave up and just looked down at the floor.

Only moments passed before Jane's gloved pointer finger was under his chin and pulling his head up to where he couldn't get away from the twins stare. 

"What?" he murmured.

"Torry."

Andy made a grumbling noise.

"What was that, Drew?" Jane cracked a smile. "I know you were over there talking to her."

Before Andy could answer, a question piped up from behind them, the Solomans all turning to face the speaker behind the bar.

"Can I get you guys anything to drink?"

She was a short blonde girl with a huge smile and a set of saucer-shaped green eyes. She looked fairly young and much like she didn't belong in a place like Eve's Garden.

"Hey Torry," Jane leaned forward on the bar and set her elbows on it, planting her chin coyly in her hands. "I was just asking Andy about you."

Victoria's face shifted to a deep red, almost matching Andy's at that moment, and she opened her mouth to say something before Andy cut in and changed the subject.

"Torry! This is my brother, Jase." With an exaggerated motion, Andy reached across Jane's face and pointed to Jase, who was standing there calmly and staring amusedly at the whole situation. He reached a hand out across the bar to take Victoria's which he noted she shook quite firmly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Torry."

"You too. I've heard a lot about you," she smiled.

"All good, I hope." Jase tossed a lazy glance to Andy, who just grinned in return.

"Of course." Victoria began to wipe the counter down with a wet cloth and as she moved up along the bar, she called back to them before she was out of earshot. "You let me know if you all need anything."

"Will do. Thanks Vic!" Jane casually tilted her head towards her youngest brother and pasted the sweetest smile she could manage on her face. "Oh, you two are so awkward and darling. Aren't they, Jase?" She reached over and smacked the back of her hand into her twin brother's stomach. There was no answer from him so Jane turned to face him instead of Andy. Jase's eyes were locked on some random spot up on the second floor, glazed over and heavy-lidded. She poked him in the stomach and finally he gave his head a slight shake and peered over to her.

"What's your deal?"

Jase didn't know how to respond to the question -- but Andy seemed to do just fine answering it for him.

"He's probably thinking about Taaaaaaniiiiith!" He dragged her name out and lilted the syllables in that annoying and playful tone the Solomans got when teasing each other. It was funny to each of them, until it was turned against them, of course.

"Tanith?" Jane looked from her twin to Andy momentarily, before asking Jase, "What about her?"

"He told me when we were on our way here that Zeke saw her!" Andy called out from her left side. She blinked to Jase and raised her eyebrows at him, prodding him to elaborate.

"Zeke, when I talked to him today, he said he saw her at the Kashmir the other night with some guy." Jase waved his right hand dismissively, as though he didn't care and it wasn't a big deal. Jane knew it was though. She knew how much Tanith had meant to him and she could easily remember all the time they spent together when they were younger. It almost broke Jane's heart as much as it broke Jase's when they knew they wouldn't see each other much at all anymore. Tanith had told Jase to stay in touch with her and Jane always knew he wouldn't. He was too passive. When she asked him about Tanith after that he would always feed her a line like, "She's too busy for me" or "I'm sure she has better things to do than tag along with a jerk like me."

Jane reached out and squeezed her brother's wrist, a motion which he returned with a weak smile before jabbing the the thumb of his opposite hand towards the door. "Well, I guess I'm gonna go back. I'm tired... and... I don't know when I have to go to work yet tomorrow, so..."

She cut him off with a poke to the side. "Go on then. I'll be headed home in a couple minutes. I'll bring Andy with me."

Nodding, Jase's lips thinned and he turned away from his siblings, shifting through the crowd once more to the exit. A wave of bitter resentment had washed over him at the thought of Tanith again. Of how she had moved on and up, and Jase had gone nowhere.

Andy watched his brother until he vanished through the sea of people and out the door, then he turned his head to Jane. "Why does he always get so odd when Tanith comes up?"

Tanith hadn't come up in their conversations for awhile and Andy hadn't heard much about her at all since the students scattered, but Jane knew Zeke's mention of Tanith probably got Jase thinking nonstop about her once again. Jane always told him to contact her, to see her and talk to her, but Jase never would -- and that was something that frustrated the hell out of her.

"Well," Jane inhaled deeply. "You remember what happened with them."

"I remember making fun of Jase cause he had a crush on her."

A faint chuckle passed through her lips at how much Andy had teased her twin brother when they were little. "When Tanith went back to Olympus Heights after the school went under ---"

"She told him never to talk to her again?"

"No, actually she told him the exact opposite."

"So why aren't they talking anymore?"

"Because our brother is a wet rag."

"It's his fault?" Andy looked genuinely shocked, his blue eyes big and his mouth hanging open.

Jane nodded slowly, brushing her fingers through her hair. "He won't contact her because he's afraid she won't want to talk to him."

Andy chuckled, "That's a load of bull. I don't remember much about school these days, but I do remember the way Tanith used to look at Jase."

"Mmmhmm. And Jase denies things exactly like that."

"Oooooh!" Andy did his best and most extravagant impression of his older brother's voice -- adding a nice, whiny tone to it. "Tanith never looked at me! She probably doesn't even remember my naaaaaame!"

They both laughed long and loud, Jane gripping the edge of the bar for support and as she caught her breath and wiped a stray tear from the corner of her right eye, she managed to look around the club. She could see Kip over there at his table now, fuming again -- this time because of Andy, she was sure.

"Oh please," she muttered with an annoyed sigh, trying to keep her eye-rolling concerning Kip to a minimum.

"What?" Andy inquired.

"Nothing, Drew." She motioned to the backstage area. "Listen, I'm gonna go get changed and grab my stuff and then we can head back to the apartment, alright?"

"Sure thing, sis."

Shooting a scowl in Durant's direction, she turned her back towards him and slipped backstage to the dressing rooms to change. Stifling a yawn, she realized how tired she had become and how much she was looking forward to curling up back at their apartment and falling asleep, for what would hopefully be a full night of rest.

She had grocery shopping to do in the morning, after all.


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh, son of a bitch." A mutter sounded under the chorus of multiple pots steaming over and bubbling with noodles. "Leonard! This was supposed to go out twenty minutes ago! Apollo Square -- take it!" He dropped the slip of paper on the counter and picked the bag up, shoving it into his co-worker's hands. "Go!"

Jase Soloman watched Lenny scatter off and dragged his arm across his forehead, attempting to keep beads of sweat from his eyes. He blinked profusely, trying to pick out his boss through the rising steam and people around him. He had been called to work in the afternoon, but he was asked to stay on all night. They were full that evening. The dining room had no empty tables and deliveries were coming in left and right. Jase was currently awaiting his next delivery, which he knew would be coming up any second.

"Soloman! Where are you?" He heard a gruff voice call out.

Waving his hands above his head, he began pushing his way towards his boss, grabbing the bag from him as he stopped in front of the tall and imposing man.

"Address is on the slip. Mercury Suites down the street. Go on."

"Yessir." He was already dodging the cooks and waiters around him in the kitchen as he spoke the affirmative, holding the bag out in front of him and making sure he didn't jostle it too much. The noodles were usually packed perfectly, but he could easily recall occasions where he got yelled at because someone's dinner had been spilled in the bag on the way there. That was never his fault, but he always took the blame.

Dropping the bag into the wire basket on the back of the Happy Noodle delivery bicycle parked out front, Jase hesitated climbing on for a moment as an octopus slithered it's way over the street's clear ceiling high above him, swimming off towards the bright lights of Fort Frolic. He swung his leg over the bike and planted himself on the seat, pushing off and pedaling down the cobblestones of Olympus Heights. As he passed groups of people and citizens walking from one place to another, Jase shifted uncomfortably in his uniform. The pants and jacket were both bright red and lined with black and Jase refused to wear the hat that went with it. It was too big for his head and would slide into his face while he was working. That was currently stuck in the back waistband of his pants. He was a good employee so his boss let the lack of hat slide, luckily. His boss wasn't too keen on the idea of changing the uniforms to green though, when Jase had casually mentioned it. It was a color he liked a lot better, but the boss said red was the most noticeable.

_Yes, and the most annoying._

He often felt like a stoplight careening down the street on his bike.

As he came to a halt in front of Mercury Suites -- his handbrake squeaking ever-so-slightly as he did -- he planted his left foot on the ground and kept his right foot on the other pedal for a moment, peering around the courtyard of the place. His eyes drifted up the stone columns to the upper floors, the soft greenish light of the area bathing him in a comforting glow that waved back and forth over his form from the sea through the ceiling. He suppressed a scowl at the thought of what it would be like to live in one of these -- also the thought of the fact that he _never would_ \-- and peered down at the slip of paper he had pressed between his palm and the right handle of the bike.

Apartment 3-B.

Pulling himself off of the bike, he leaned it against a tree in the courtyard and took the bag from the basket, making his way across the hard ground to the stairs that climbed the center pillar of the courtyard. Once he reached the third floor, he crossed the walkway to the apartments and began to search for the right one. It was all the way across from the stairs, of course, and after a loud knock on the door, Jase begin to study the slip of paper for the total he should be expecting and all the other --

"Jase?" 

It was a quiet whisper from the person who appeared in the doorway once the barrier slid open, but the familiarity of it was enough to make his muscles freeze. And it took all of his willpower to move his eyes from the slip of paper to the door. He stared into a pair of wide gray eyes for what seemed like years before another voice sounded from the living room of the lush apartment behind the woman at the door.

"Doll, is that the food?"

Jase watched the woman's jaw clench and her lips thin. "Yes, Drake," she responded simply, through gritted teeth.

When her eyes had shifted away from him momentarily, and back to the end table behind her where a mess of money sat, Jase took the opportunity to actually look at her. She was wearing a floor-length black robe that was buttoned to her collarbone with short and slightly puffy sleeves. Her left arm was still missing -- and as it always had been since the accident, it didn't look like it bothered her at all. Her feet were bare, and he wasn't sure what she had on under the robe but with that guy in the living room lounging around, Jase really didn't want to think about it.

She turned back towards him and he felt his eyebrows furrow at the thought of her with that lug in the other room -- that lug who had risen from the sofa in front of the television and was now moving towards the door. Jase held out the bag to her before Drake got there, but he took it anyways, swooping between the woman and Jase and grabbing the delivery, heading down the hall towards what Jase could only assume was the opulent and well-stocked kitchen. The man slowed though, leaning back to kiss Tanith Kendall on the cheek before moving on.

Jase could see the emptiness in her gaze as she handed him the money and dared to look in his eyes. It was just once, and it was just for a few moments, but all the frustration Jase felt in his system left him. It was his fault Drake was even there in the first place. He told himself at that moment if he had stayed in touch with her then _he_ could've been the one on that sofa lounging around with a modestly robed Tanith, her head on his chest and both of them watching the mindless television programs of Rapture.

He took the money from her and watched her brush a copper curl away from her cheek before she shifted over to the panel beside the door to shut it. The movement caused the bottom of her robe to flutter to the side, revealing a hint of a brilliant white nightgown, the lacy hem of which his eyes instantly locked on. He told himself to stop staring, but he couldn't bring himself to shift his gaze away from her, his eyes dragging themselves up her body from the white lace to the ebony robe to the tan of her neck and finally to her cloudy pair of orbs, which he swore for a moment held a sparkle that wasn't there mere seconds before.

"Have a good night, Mr. Soloman."

Glancing down at the money in his hand, he tried to push a blush away from his cheeks before looking back up at her. She was a generous tipper.

"Thank you, Miss Kendall."

The door slid shut and Jase could feel a silly lopsided grin crossing his face for a few fleeting moments before he spun around and stalked away from Tanith Kendall's apartment. Sure, he felt like they had something there for a second. That little flare that parted the storms in her eyes -- it was something he hadn't seen in years. But she wasn't padding down that hallway into that kitchen to eat noodles with him, no. She wasn't wearing that robe and that nightgown in his presence. He wasn't in that giant apartment with her and her reddish-gold hair and her bare feet. He wasn't going to crawl into bed that night and wrap Miss Tanith Kendall up in his tired and worn out arms, of course not.

He was going back to Happy Noodle, to deliver more dinner to Rapture. He was going back to the overflowing pots and the yelling customers and the angry workers and the damn bike that squealed when you tried to brake fast. He was going back to the hard cot and the curtain for a bedroom door, and the stale fruit juice and the late night meetings with Frank Fontaine and the other smugglers. He was going back to the fear of being found out and the fear of getting punished for trying to keep he and his siblings out of debt.

As Jase was storming back down the stairs to the courtyard, he opened his mouth and sucked in a deep breath. It was at that point he realized he had been biting the inside of his cheek and a thick crimson liquid was now dribbling from his lips. Wiping his mouth across his sleeve, he smugly noticed how well the liquid blended in with his uniform and throwing his leg over the bike, he pedaled as quickly as he could manage out of the Mercury Suites courtyard, his mouth still slowly filling with blood.

...

The apartment was quiet and dark when Jane came in, except for the low chatter of the television and the lights from the city that crept through the sea and filled their living room with a soft blue glow. Jane slowly set her purse on the table and took her pumps off, placing them by the door and attempting not to make much noise in the process. She saw the top of a head over the back of the couch and figured either someone was watching television, or someone had fallen asleep watching television. She got home from work late, so that was usually the case. As she pattered across the cold floor, she untucked her blouse from her brown skirt and stretched before peeking around the corner of the old couch.

Her first thought was that Andy had fallen asleep watching television. That was how he usually put himself to bed at night. What she saw though was something she definitely didn't expect. Andy was asleep on the couch, laying down, and Jase was the one sitting up with his legs tucked under him, in front of the late night programming. That wasn't what struck her as odd though, nor was it the fact that Andy was curled up under his blanket with his head resting on his brother's thigh. What really made her breath hitch in her throat was the fact that resting on Jase's other thigh was a big bottle of Old Tom Whiskey, now half empty, with Jase's fingers curled around the neck of it.

Jane knew Jase hadn't really had much alcohol in a good long while, and when he did it was only a bit here and there. He knew what it did to people and didn't want to fall into that pattern. Besides being a bad habit, it was also an expensive one. Jane and Jase always agreed on this and never drank too much. So to see her twin brother sitting in front of the television with a half-empty bottle in his hand took her by surprise.

"Jase..."

A few long and quiet moments stretched between the Soloman twins until Jase finally managed to turn his head towards her, his eyes wide and bloodshot and his lips pursed. When he shifted, the scent of alcohol wafted off of him and Jane flinched, scrunching her nose up slightly.

"What's wrong?"

Her brother shook his head slowly, damp strands of dark brown hair falling over his forehead and into his eyes with the movement. She watched him carefully for a second before taking the bottle from him. He protested weakly, trying to pull it back from her, but failed and absently stared at her as she placed it gently on the countertop in the kitchen area.

"Come on," she whispered, tugging at Jase's arm. She stopped momentarily, letting go of him as he attempted to stand on his own, and she slipped her hands under Andy's head, pulling a pillow under it and setting his cheek down where their brother's leg vacated. Jane stretched the blanket up to Andy's shoulder and turned grabbing Jase's wrists as he meandered down the hallway. She steered him into his bedroom and sat on the cot before he managed to make it there, holding her arms up to him. Jase almost fell into them, his eyes already drifting shut and his head lulling to the side.

Jane scooted to the head of the cot and put his pillow behind her against the wall. He was sprawled out beside her now, his head resting on her stomach, his cheek pressed against the ivory of her blouse and his eyes, watery and half-lidded, locked on her face.

"What is it, Jase?"

"I delivered noodles tonight."

"I know you did. I know you had to work tonight," she responded softly, letting her fingers brush the hair away from his temple.

"No no no." He paused, taking a deep breath. It was like the conversation was taking away any energy he had left. "Tanith. I delivered food to Tanith."

"That's good, isn't it? I mean you --"

"She was with some _asshole_. His name was Drake. He was sitting on her couch and staring at her all... he was staring at her. And she... looked... She was... her eyes... I..."

Jane stayed silent after he murmured those words, now knowing exactly why Jase had come home and started drinking. He looked as though he was about to fall into a deep sleep, but his mind wouldn't let him and eyes just wouldn't close. His hand moved up to where she was stroking his hair and he grabbed it, lacing his fingers with hers.

"What do I do, Janey?"

Everything had accumulated and built-up to this and seeing Tanith seemed to send her brother over the edge and to the bottle. Jane knew about his side job smuggling with Frank Fontaine, she knew about how efficient he was at the Happy Noodle, she knew he avoided some of the girls at Eve's Garden because they were so forward with him -- she knew everything about her twin brother, and she was sure he knew things about her that she wasn't aware of anyone knowing. But that was just how they were -- how the Solomans were. They kept secrets for each other. They kept secrets to _survive_. And she knew that Jase's were so sensitive and stressing to him that he seemed like he was going to burst at the seams at any moment.

"You've done so much for this family, Jase." She pushed a stray lock of hair from his forehead with her free hand and pulling her to him, not minding the scent of alcohol that wafted from his lips and clothes as much anymore, she looked him straight in the eyes. "I know something good is gonna come your way." Planting a kiss on his temple, she offered him a smile, which he weakly and drunkenly returned. "I know it is. So you don't do anything except _stop worrying_."

Slowly, she shifted out from under his upper body and stood beside the bed. He was attempting to take off his whiskey-stained undershirt and seemed to give up with the collar half-over his head when Jane, trying to stifle a laugh, grabbed it and yanked it off, throwing it on the floor in front of his window.

"Get some sleep."

"Nnggh," he responded with an absent noise, burying his head in his pillow.

Jane turned to exit the room and stopped halfway when she heard his voice again. 

"Janey?"

She stood there a moment with her back to him, her eyes shut against the sound. He sounded like he was young again -- that was the exact way he called to her right after the accident with Tanith, right after they took her away on a stretcher, his voice quiet and afraid. When he asked her if Tanith would ever forgive him.

Spinning around, she quickly regained her composure and raised her eyebrows questionably.

"What?"

"Thank you."

"Of course. Now sleep."

"Luvoo."

She assumed that was his drunken and half-asleep declaration of love and couldn't help but smile at it. "Love you too, Jase."


	4. Chapter 4

It was the second time in four days that Jase was standing out front of Tanith Kendall's apartment. The meal ordered this night though was radicially different from the one the previous time. Brushing his hair back with his free hand, he knocked after that, steeling himself for whatever obnoxious bachelor would be in her place tonight.

The door slid back to reveal Tanith, clad in a modest dark purple silk blouse and a matching skirt along with a pair of black stockings. Her feet were bare, her eyes were wide and her cheeks were rosy. She appeared to be in much better spirits than she was the last time he had been there to deliver food, which instantly made him think that everything was perfect in her world of suitors and popularity and money.

_Oh great. Drake must've--_

The sarcastic voice in his head was cut off when an older woman peered over the back of the couch to him. "Jase Soloman?"

"Mrs. Dooley..." He said absently.

"Isaak, it's Jase!"

Squinting his eyes slightly, he peered further into the abode, spotting the woman's husband, Isaak, on the chair on the other side of the television. It had been years since he had seen both of them, but they hadn't changed much physically. He guessed he hadn't either if they recognized him so fast.

"Well, come in, Soloman!" Isaak called.

His eyes instantly shifted to Tanith, who gave him a simple beckoning motion with her chin before manually sliding the door shut behind him and wandering off to the kitchen.

"How've you been?" Teneil asked him.

Jase let his eyes focus on Tanith's mother and shrugged. "Alright, I guess." He forced a smile.

"And Jane and Andrew?"

"They're good."

"That's great to hear, Jase."

Jase was mildly shocked at the way Tanith's parents were treating him. The upper class always seemed like one big herd of arrogance that always looked at everything the same way. And when it came to the lower class and the working men they all looked down on them. He felt uncharacteristically welcome and warm in Teneil and Isaak's presence though.

"We were hungry for some dinner and Tanith suggested Happy Noodle. She didn't mention we might get to see an old friend." Issak's smile caused Jase to blush slightly. He always felt awkward around Tanith's father, probably because of how close he and Tanith were when they were younger. He was always worried Isaak didn't approve -- all of that didn't matter anymore though when they had lost touch.

"And she said you guys had good food." Teneil smiled to him, the slight wrinkles at the corners of her eyes the only hints of her age. If not for those, Jase had always thought Teneil could've passed for Tanith's sister.

"I sure hope so," Jase forced a lopsided grin and turned his head to the left as Tanith reemerged from the kitchen with money in her hand.

Isaak had stood and moved to the door, clapping Jase on the back as he took the bag from him. "It was good seeing you again, Mr. Soloman." A smile crossed his face as he passed his daughter and Jase, moving to the kitchen with the food. "Don't be a stranger."

"I agree." Teneil had gotten up as well to follow her husband into the kitchen and stopped to ruffle Jase's hair like she had done when she had visited their school all those years ago. "You've grown into a very handsome young man."

" _Mother_." Tanith murmured.

Teneil smiled and raised her eyebrows at the two of them, her lips curving upwards slightly as she left them in the foyer of Tanith's apartment and vanished into the kitchen. "Tell your brother and sister I said hello!" She called behind her after she disappeared.

Jase stared at Tanith for a few awkward moments before turning back towards the door, waiting for it to slide open and stepping down out of the foyer and back out onto the stone walkways of Mercury Suites.

"Jase."

He turned to Tanith, who was now holding the payment for dinner out to him.

"Oh yeah." He paused and reached out to take the money from her. His voice came out in an almost haughty tone, as if he were angry at her for her perfect life. "Almost forgot. Thanks." He regretted the way it sounded when it came out, but knew there was nothing he could do to change it. Jase figured he had just driven her even further away from him.

She stepped to the threshold of the door after he took the money and slightly leaned down towards him, the motion causing him to freeze in place. "I was hoping they'd send you," she whispered, as her arm snaked around him and her fingers slipped into the back pocket of his bright red pants. "Have a good night." She didn't wait for a reaction from him before she shut the door, leaving Jase slack-jawed and glassy-eyed on the promenade of the Mercury Suites.

Her touch had made him forget all about his voice and the tip she had left in his back pocket.

...

When Jane arrived home that night, she found her youngest brother asleep on the couch in front of the murmuring television. As she moved further into the apartment, she found her twin brother throwing clothes around his room from the tidy piles they had made on his desk. With an amused smirk, Jane leaned against the door frame and brushed up against the mauve curtain before finally inquiring about his actions.

"What the hell are you doing?"

Jase jumped, startled by his sister's sudden presence and then he reached over to his windowsill and pulled something off of it before turning and shoving it into her hands. "Look at this!"

She blankly looked down to the item in her hands. "Ten bucks." Nodding slowly, she went to hand it back. "Good tip money, I assume?"

"Turn it over."

Pulling it back, she flipped the bill over and noticed a message in blue ink scrawled along the bottom.

_Tea Gardens. Tomorrow. Midnight. - TK_

Eyes widened, Jane excitedly waved the ten dollars in the air in front of her, trying to keep her mouth shut against the sudden squeaks of delight that threatened to spill from her lips. She didn't want to wake Andy up with her noise so she settled for barreling into her twin brother and throwing her arms arounds his neck. "This is great!" She hissed.

"I know!" Once he let go of her, he went back to pilfering through his stacks of clothes. An activity he halted when she pulled a couple things from the bottom of one of the piles with her free hand.

"You have to wear these."

She was holding one of his favorite outfits. A worn out pair of brown trousers and cream-colored sweater. Both items fit him perfectly, unlike a lot of the Soloman's clothes, and they were both extremely comfortable, but Jase had already mentally blocked those out in his mind. "There's a hole in the right elbow of the --"

"I'll go patch it up for you right now," Jane smiled.

Jase inhaled deeply and sighed, running his fingers back through his hair. Everything had been moving so fast that day and he finally told himself to stop for a moment. "Thank you." He paused. "Oh, and I saw her parents. They were over at her place. They wanted me to tell you and Andy that they said hello."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"But they're..."

"I know. They're _important_." He was going to add _and we're not_ , but he figured they were both thinking it already anyways. "They recognized me right away while I stood there at the door." He waved his hands behind him, like he was motioning to Tanith's kitchen. "Then they both took the food and left the room and that was when Tanith gave me that." He pointed to the ten dollar bill still in his sister's hand.

"She knew you were coming."

"She said she was hoping they would send me..."

Biting back another excited squeak, Jane shoved the bill into her brother's chest and rushed out of his room towards her own with his clothing in her grasp. He watched her go before turning his head to the photograph above his desk. There they were in the background, blurry and smiling to each other.

_Why does she want to see me again? I have nothing to offer her that she doesn't already have._

...

The next evening, Jane made sure she worked the early shift at the Garden so she could be home by eleven. The night before she had stayed up late to sew the hole in her twin brother's sweater and left the clothes at the foot of his bed, watching him sleep for a few moments before returning to her own room. Jase was at work when she woke up the next morning and she hadn't seen him all day, but he had left a note on a scrap of paper by her purse that morning, his handwriting the same as it always was -- loopy and crooked. The note simply said, "Thank you, Janey!"

She came in at 11:02 in the evening to an apartment filled with the laughter of two jokingly argumentative boys.

"Your hair looks stupid like that!"

"Then how am I supposed to do it?!"

"Not like that!"

Jane set her stuff on the counter and took her heels off before ambling down the hallway towards the bathroom where Andy was busy ruffling Jase's hair.

"Oh, that looks horrible," she stated.

"See?!" Andy hissed, jumping up to seat himself on the bathroom sink in front of his brother. "I _told you_."

Jane slipped up behind Jase and reached around him to grab a brush from the counter, running the bristles through his shaggy mop of brown hair while Andy fiddled with his bangs. He held out his hand to Jane, who finished brushing and placed the item in Andy's palm where he quickly pulled it back and used it on the front of Jase's head. Then nodding, Andy slid off of the counter, giving Jase a view of himself in the mirror. His bangs were parted neatly on the side but still managed to retain that volume that his hair never seemed to lose unless it was wet. 

"Yeah?" Andy crossed his arms over his chest, his older sister mirroring his stance as they both stared at Jase.

"I think it looks good," Jane said.

"Me too," Jase added, nodding in approval. "Thanks, guys."

He wiggled his way between them and out of the bathroom and Jane followed him into his room, watching him as he put on a pair of tidy brown dress shoes. They were still almost as good as new except for a few scuffs here and there. Jase had them for years, but never had any reason to wear them anywhere, hence their pristine state. She patched up the hole on the elbow of his sweater the night before and smiled now at the fact that he still fit perfectly into both items of clothing. He had the sleeves rolled up and she noted his hands fumbling as he worked to tie his shoes. He was _shaking_.

"Come on now, Jase." She walked over to him and knelt down in front of him, batting his hands out of the way. As she began to tie his shoes for him, she looked up at him and widened her eyes. "Quit being so nervous. It's _Tanith_."

"Exactly." He leaned back on the cot, planting his hands behind him. "Why am I going to meet her? Why me? Why does she want to see me after all this time? To tell me to never look at her again?"

"You're being a pessimist. This isn't like you. I don't like it." Jane finished with his shoes and stood in front of him, suddenly stifling a yawn. "It's getting late. You'd better get going."

"Maybe I just won't go..." Jase sighed, as he leaned forward and dropped his chin to his chest. That only garnered him a nice slap across the back of his head from his twin sister.

"She obviously wants to see you. Why else would she slip you a ten dollar bill with a little note on it if she just wanted to tell you to piss off? _Pardon me_ , shove off...?"

With a quiet chuckle, Jase slowly brought himself to his feet. His sister had a point. 

"What? Are we trying to curb our cursing here in the Soloman household now, Janey?"

"No." Jane scoffed, throwing her head back in a defiant sort of gesture. "I just figured that wasn't the sweetest way to speak when giving my brother a moving and emotional speech about going to meet a girl he has a big crush on at the Tea Garden when she specifically asked him too. I figured that all needed much nicer and more uplifting wording."

"Oh, like the _nicer and uplifting_ wording is really needed, I mean --"

"Alright! Then you hush and _get the hell out of here_. It's almost midnight!"


	5. Chapter 5

"I didn't think you would show up."

Spinning around, Jase let his eyes trail slowly around the Tea Gardens, trying to pinpoint exactly where the voice had come from.

He had arrived at Arcadia and entered the Tea Gardens with about nine minutes to spare. There had been a couple seated on a bench, speaking to each other in hushed and relaxed tones, but they parted ways before midnight, leaving Jase alone in the tiny little patch of Eden. He had milled around a bit, studying the flowers and running his hands over the stone and vines around him. 

But now he wasn't alone anymore. Tanith was there. He had _heard_ her.

"Why not?" He whispered to the quiet air around him.

Mere moments later he felt a breath on the back of his neck and twisted his head around, coming almost face-to-face with Tanith, who was slowly circling him till she stood in the direction he was facing. She looked like she had emerged right from the brush around them, her dress matching the hunter green of the foliage and her hair matching the golden red petals he had been eyeing on some flowers mere minutes before. She brushed some stray wavy locks back behind her shoulder before tilting her head up to him and delivering a slight shrug.

"Because you usually avoid me."

"That's not true," Jase responded simply and instantly.

"Then how come we haven't talked in years?"

He didn't have an answer to that one. When his sister asked it he could always fumble with excuses and weasel his way around the question. But when faced with it from Tanith herself, he could only let his eyes drift away from her and to the windows that led out into the sea.

The two stood in a thick silence for a few moments with only the very low hum of generators and the far away sound of the bubbling sea permeating it. She had her eyes locked on his face, and he was still staring out past the greenery to the blue of the ocean. He broke it with a sigh, keeping his gaze on the watery cityline of other parts of Rapture.

"Why did you say you were hoping they'd send me?" He asked.

There was no vacillation before her answer. "Because it is refreshing to see a face I care for."

Shifting his hands into the pockets of his pants, Jase finally turned his head to look back at her, an expression of mild disbelief crossing his boyish features. "After all these years...?"

With a stifled chuckle, Tanith turned away from him and began to wander off, pausing for a moment only to lean down and slip her shoes off. She didn't answer his question, much like he hadn't answered hers, and he watched her drift away from him, vanishing momentarily behind a wall of vines.

He didn't hesitate, and he didn't even bother to think about it, he just began moving after her, shifting around the wall and coming to a halt when he noticed her seated on the bench the couple he had seen earlier had vacated. Wandering up to it, he crossed his arms and peered down at her. Her gaze was locked out on the sea and he briefly thought she had forgotten about him until her right hand slipped from her lap and gently patted the empty side of the bench.

Seating himself beside her, Jase placed his palms on his knees and inhaled deeply. "It was good to see your parents again."

Tanith nodded, finally tearing her eyes away from the sea and looking to him. "They were very happy to see you."

He wasn't sure if she was just saying that to make him feel better, or if they actually felt that way, but he hadn't gotten any negative vibes from them when he saw them, which comforted him slightly.

"They always asked me what happened to you, Jase. They cared about you. They thought you were a good influence."

"Me?" He let out a weak chuckle and shook his head. "I don't see how that's possible. I mean, I did..."

He trailed off. He had been ready to bring up her arm, but he stopped, not knowing whether or not it was a subject she really wanted to discuss. Hell, he wasn't sure he wanted to discuss it. Whenever he _thought_ of the incident a hollow pit formed in his stomach and talking about it would probably cause a lot more to happen, worse things. Things he didn't want to think about.

"They know that was an accident. And _I_ know it was an accident. Anyways, it was my fau--"

"It wasn't your fault," Jase said.

Tanith said nothing. They sat in silence for a few minutes, their shoulders gently brushing and their eyes drawn out, once more, to the sea ahead of them.

"It is good to be around a guy who actually converses with me." Tanith finally spoke, her voice dropped to almost a whisper. After she stated this fact, she stood and drifted away from the bench.

This caused Jase to scramble to his feet to follow her, grabbing the shoes she had left by the bench on the way. The statement she had made piqued his interest as much as the sight of her quickly glancing behind her and that sparkle in her eyes beckoning for him to follow did. "What do you mean?"

"Every time I go out with a guy, I can tell they're doing it for my money."

"And how do you go about telling _that_?" He skipped over a small pile of rocks and followed her down the path through the foliage, noting the way the drooping bow on the back of her low-waisted dress shifted with every step she took.

"You can just tell. Talk is either about them and their accomplishments or hollow compliments towards me, which they don't really want to give."

"They don't understand --"

"My arm."

Jase nodded. It was where he had been going, again, as much as he wanted to stay away from the subject.

"They're always morbidly interested in why I won't get anything done to it or how it happened."

"You know Dr. Steinman can fix that. Hell, instead of a prosthetic he could probably reattach a real working arm. I hear that man is a medical genius."

Tanith tilted her head slightly, a copper curl kissing the corner of her lips. "Well, _I_ hear he's also quite a creepy man. I feel going to him would possibly achieve a solution for my arm -- but I also feel I would be treated as a science project. Not a patient." Her back was facing Jase, but she turned her head and pressed her chin against her shoulder, peering at him. "Besides, I am fine without it." Tanith began to move again, her bare feet shifting silently over the grass.

He stopped her, grabbing her left shoulder and gently turning her towards him. "I'm sorry. Again."

Tanith pushed his hand away and tilted her chin down a bit, peering up to him with wide gray eyes. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

"Yes. I do. If I--"

She brought her right hand up and placed her pointer finger against his lips, shaking her head slightly.

Jase managed to keep his composure, even though the feel of her skin on his lips threatened to push him over some edge he knew he had only been over in his mind. This was Tanith. _Tanith Kendall_. The girl in the picture on his mostly bare bedroom wall. The girl he had spent so much time with so many years ago -- they had been inseparable, they were still on the same wavelength even after all this time. 

Pushing the sleeves of his sweater up over his forearms, he prepared to speak again when an announcement over the loudspeaker cut him off.

" _Good evening, citizens of Rapture! The time is now 1 A.M. and the curfew for Arcadia and the surrounding areas will begin after this announcement. Anybody out after this time will be subject to arrest and interrogation. Get your rest and prepare for a bright new day tomorrow!_ "

The declaration cut out and the security cameras around the Tea Garden suddenly switched from a welcoming green glow to a harsh red one. They had been standing in the path of one, the beam suddenly changing to a brilliant white and a loud noise sounding, counting down the seconds until security robots would be released.

Jase dropped Tanith's shoes and grabbed her shoulders, pulling her sideways into a thick wall of vines they were near. She pressed herself back against the wire frame the vines had been growing on and suddenly grabbed the front of Jase's sweater, shifting him up against her.

"Your foot was still in the light," she murmured.

"Thanks," he answered, peering around them. The spot he pulled her through was the section with the sparsest amount of greenery. On all four sides they were surrounded by a black cage of sorts, leafy green vines twisting and climbing around the wire. Only a small amount of light was able to penetrate through the thick flora and spots of it dotted Tanith's face here and there. There was a sliver of blue light over her eyes, which still held that sparkle Jase noticed earlier.

"I didn't know it was so... late," Jase whispered, attempting to stay nonchalant and trying to keep his mind off of the fact that his body was pressed against hers.

Even in the dim lighting, in the middle of the vines, Jase could see her hold back a chuckle. He could feel it, the way her chest moved against his as she held the laugh in.

"What?" He hissed.

"Nothing..."

The white beam outside had lost its target and turned back to red, continuously sweeping back and forth and searching for a new one. Trickles of crimson made their way into their hiding spot, but the thick wall of vines kept them safe from the beam shifting to white once more. 

Jase knew he couldn't move backwards until he was ready to make a run for it, since his foot would hit an open spot in the wire cage where the red light could catch him. He knew he wasn't ready to run yet though, and for a brief moment he thought Tanith wasn't ready for him to run just yet either. Her right hand was clutching a handful of his sweater at his side, her fingers pressed against the soft fabric, into the skin underneath.

Her touch gave him a sudden burst of energy and he reached up on either side of her face to grab the wall of wire there, his body managing to get just a bit closer to hers. Leaning forward, he placed his lips near her ear and breathed in to speak, absently enjoying the faintly sweet scent that drifted from her skin. "Will I see you again?" Their cheeks brushed as he spoke and he managed to keep his knees from buckling as he felt her right arm shift around his back. "I don't want to lose you for another five years."

Jase had to suppress a shudder when she answered. Her warm breath slid over his neck and her whisper sounded loud and clear. "You won't." He swore he felt her lips press against the soft spot under his ear before she pulled away from him and shifted out from between his body and the wire.

"Which part was that in response to?" He asked, a surprisingly playful tone to his voice.

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough."

Without another word, Tanith pushed her way back out into the Tea Gardens and dodged the camera beam as it swept in the direction away from her. Jase watched her through the vines, pushing the urge to chase her out of his system. She practically floated over the grass and back up to the entrance to the Tea Gardens, slipping under another patrolling camera and the wide red beam it managed to spill ahead of it.

In seconds she was gone, leaving Jase, cheeks flushed and out of breath, in the middle of a mass of foliage. Soloman took a few moments to compose himself before timing the camera movements and stumbling out of the black wire cage, bolting up the slight hill to the exit. He grabbed Tanith's forgotten shoes on the way out of the Tea Gardens and briefly wondered how her trip home barefoot had been.

Once he made it back to the apartment he shared with his siblings, he found them both asleep on the couch in front of the television. Jase crept through the living area, hoping not to wake them from their slumber, but he froze when he heard someone stir. Turning, he saw his sister stretching and standing from the sofa, then pattering over to him with a big smile on her face. Even in the dim light from the television, Jase could see how eager she looked.

"How'd it go?"

"Good," he nodded. "Really good."

"Elaborate," Jane rasped.

Drifting past his sister, he meandered down the hallway to his room, his mind racing back to the previous couple of hours. He wasn't sure where to even begin. "I don't know how... it was just..."

Jane followed him to his bedroom and leaned against his door frame. She noted the way he seemed to be lost in his head, daydreaming. He occasionally got like that. "You should invite her over for dinner. I would love to see her again."

Tossing her a glance, he shrugged as he shook his slight trance off. "I don't know... I mean, I want you guys to see her. I'm sure she would love to see you..."

"But...?" she prodded him along.

"But..." He dropped Tanith's shoes beside his bed and motioned with his hands around him. "This isn't really a place to invite guests to, you know?"

"Jase, I really don't think Tanith will care about the state of our apartment. I mean... it's not like she doesn't know we're not rich." A small grin crossed her face as her eyes met with the simple pair of black heels that sat on the ground beside his cot. "What's with the shoes?"

"We were walking around the Tea Gardens and she had them off and she forgot them when she left."

The smile never left Jane's face as she pushed herself off of the door frame. "Hey, Jase."

He glanced up to her from his seat on his cot, his brown eyes wide and curious. "Hmm?"

"Tanith Kendall is a smart girl. I don't think she _forgot_ her shoes."

Jase was about to speak up after his sister, but she had vanished from the doorway to his room and slipped into her own before he could get a word out. His gaze went from his doorway to the pair of shoes beside the cot, where his eyes lingered momentarily. With a stretch, he stood and pulled the heavy curtain shut over his door then stripped the sweater off over his head. Jase fell into bed with his brown pants still on and almost instantly fell asleep.

The last few moments he was awake though, his eyes managed to catch sight of Tanith's heels again, and his thoughts drifted to a place in his mind where she had taken those shoes off and crawled into bed beside him.

He would have to return them to her tomorrow.


End file.
